Telehealth Technology Is Increasingly Important to U.S. Veterans

With the largest telehealth program in the world, the Department of Veterans Affairs is making quick use of the latest mobile health care technology, particularly in rural areas. Experts highlighted the VA's telehealth potential at a subcommittee meeting of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on June 24.

With a large distance separating U.S. veterans from the
proper medical care they need, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is a
major adopter of mobile health technology. The House
Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee held a hearing on June 24 in which
military officers and health care IT experts discussed the latest innovations
in telehealth and how they could be implemented by the VA.
Telehealth incorporates
a number of different technologies that allow doctors and patients to
communicate and send medical information back and forth over long distances
using telecommunications, whether it's videoconferencing, e-mail, texting or
phone conversations.

Since 40 percent of veterans live in rural areas and have
difficulty getting to a VA hospital, as Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) noted in
his remarks at the hearing, the discussion focused on how telemedicine can help
vets living in these regions.

According to Bilirakis, with 144 VA medical centers and 350 VA
outpatient clinics in communities, "VA operates the largest telehealth
program in the world."
"VA certainly is a recognized leader in using electronic health
records, telehealth and telemedicine," said Rep. Michael H. Michaud
(D-Maine), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health.
"For most veterans, their care would take place at a VA
hospital, so if they live a long ways away, it makes it difficult to get there,
and telemedicine gives them access to physicians that otherwise might be
difficult to reach," said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of
Governance Studies and director, Center for Technology Innovation, The
Brookings Institution and author of "Digital
Medicine: Health Care in the Internet Era."
"It's just more convenient for them to get medical care
that way as opposed to having to drive one or two hours," West told eWEEK.
For the three million veterans living in rural areas, access
to health care remains a key barrier, as they simply live too far away from the
nearest VA medical center, Michaud wrote in a statement. This means that rural
veterans cannot see a doctor or a health care worker to receive the care that
they need when they need it, leading to worse health outcomes among rural
veterans compared to the general population.
Gail Graham, a deputy chief officer for health information
management at the VA, described the latest wireless technologies the department
is using, including VA's electronic health records database, My HealtheVet, which services more than
1 million users and accounts for 14.5 percent of VA patients, she said.
"As a complement to traditional health care services,
the My HealtheVet PHR provides veterans with personal online access to VA
health care, featuring patient-friendly health education information and
wellness reminders for preventive care, to enhance patient engagement and
informed decision making," Graham said at the hearing.
My HealtheVet has received more than 40 million visits, according to Graham. The
portal provides health education information and wellness reminders for
preventive care to enhance patient engagement and informed decision making, she
noted.
VA dental providers also use wireless technology to run
software such as Lexi-Comp, which provides access to dentistry-specific
pharmacology and clinical information on mobile devices, Graham noted.
The government has shown a committee to creating electronic
health records for veterans.
In April 2009, President Obama said military e-health
records would "represent a huge step toward modernizing the way health
care is delivered and benefits are administered for our nation's veterans. It
would cut through red tape and reduce the number of administrative
mistakes."
Col. Ronald Poropatich, deputy director of the Telemedicine
and Advanced Technology Research Centerfor the U.S. Army Medical Research and
Materiel Command, also testified about the Army's use of the mCare mobile Web
portal, a secure, bidirectional messaging system that allows information to be
sent daily to a service members mobile phone.
"The U.S. Army recognizes that mobile devices represent an
enormous opportunity for health care outreach, not only within the active duty
and dependent population, but also within the global community," Poropatich
said at the hearing.
Poropatich noted that as mobile devices pass PCs in user
preference for communication, mobile applications are being developed for
clinical consultation, patient and provider education, research,
biosurveillance and disease management.

Brian T. Horowitz is a freelance technology and health writer as well as a copy editor. Brian has worked on the tech beat since 1996 and covered health care IT and rugged mobile computing for eWEEK since 2010. He has contributed to more than 20 publications, including Computer Shopper, Fast Company, FOXNews.com, More, NYSE Magazine, Parents, ScientificAmerican.com, USA Weekend and Womansday.com, as well as other consumer and trade publications. Brian holds a B.A. from Hofstra University in New York.